Please tell me about your, uh, crappiest race!

Sorry to hear that.  It will give you another reason to sign up for the next HM and kick your previous PRs a**.

I dont have a lot of races under my belt, but if it makes you feel any better...

My first tri, I had a miserable swim.  I had no idea the chaos it would be with a shotgun start swim.  Then when I thought I had survived, I got on my bike and was doing okay but I missed the turn and fishtailed my bike to a stop.  I had expected the turns to be nice and flashy or at least a cone, but it was just some paint in the road with a guy saying turn here (made worse by the fact the person in front of me was going a longer distance and kept riding straight.)  So, as I am getting off of the bike, thinking its my first tri and I'm not doing too bad,  I broke a bone in my foot dismounting.  After a painful putting on of the shoe, I thought... its only a few more miles the pain will surely subside.  It only got worse.  I would jog a little, then walk a little, then try not to let it get to me as person after person ran past me.

Sigh.  I figure each tri can only get better from there.... barring a bad crash. (knock on wood)

Well...I have had many crappy races...one that sticks out is the race that did not happen...I was out on a training run for a Canada Cup MTB race....biffed on a simple technical section and broke my wrist....none the less couldnt race the next day.

Best thing about that non race is that prior to breaking my wrist, I had never turned a crank on a road bike...a friend gave me a road bike to try and was manageble with my broken wrist....got me out riding and training whilst on the mend...and I have not looked back since....I have logged thoudands of miles on my roadie.

Bottom line....If I hadnt broken my wrist, I am not sure I would have ever gotten into road riding and eventually  into Tri's.

I guess there is a lesson to be learned in the crappy race....your next PR is just beyond that crappy race....

Any race where you finish and don't crap your pants is a win in my book. 

Had a race last year, that was temperarly on hold due to a hurricane that may have moved over the area. A few days before, realized that the hurricane would only pass over slightly. Figured the race would be cancelled/postponed.  They decided to delay the start by one day. (It was a harbor swim, so pretty protected swim course).

I had also, rode the course a couple of weeks before, and suffered three flats on two different rides only days apart!

Mentally, I didn't want to do the race....but....signed up, paid and did it anyways. Swim went well, bike portion went great, but I totally bonked on the run. Worse yet, it was a short sprint event. Totally did not prepare for this race....and it paid.  Cramped up only running 3 miles!  Sucked!

Never again!

Ha, too true.

Only bad race I've really had is one I shouldn't have shown up to.  I was training for a marathon and was just starting to get my long 18,20 milers in when I broke and dislocated my elbow.  All running on hold.  I forget how long it was on hold but seemed like forever.  I was finally allowed to start running again and didn't have time to do a solid ramp up.  I did throw down one more 16 miler the week before and basically had no taper as I only had weeks to get some running legs back.  What should have been a solid 4 hour marathon turned into a 6+ hour of hell.  Well, the first hour or so felt ok.  The felt like the longest day ever.  Moral of the story...eat the cost of the entry fee if you have a major setback that gets you to the start line severly undertrained.

Ha, I just read your race report and knew another thread was coming .

I had a sprint year before last where I got a flat rear tire.  It was the first road bike tire I ever had to change and I didn't have tire levers.  Finished almost DFL.

Had the fastest swim in AG and 2nd fastest run in AG.  I was 2nd in AG the following year, but still dropped a chain going uphill.  Maybe a clean bike split next time.

I am sorry you had a rough race, the next one will be better, that is what I keep telling myself.

Two weeks ago I had my first race of the season, an Oly I did last year. I was more excited about this race than any other I have done and felt this was going to be the first race I actually RACED rather than simply survived the course.

A few days before the race I started feeling achy so I rested. Two days before the race I was SICK. The day before the race I went to get a B12 shot hoping it would help.

The swim was good but I could tell it was taking a lot out of me. Chain came off the bike right out of T1 and once I got on the bike I knew immediately it was going to be a long 25ish miles. I started getting a high hammy cramp that plagued me the duration along with back spasms. I was stretching by mile .5 on the run, puking by 1.5 and had constant cramps by mile 2. Mile 4.5 brought a bridge. I was walking up the bridge holding on to the side (it was swaying I swear) while staggering and heaving. A bike medic came to me, he kept saying he knew I was alive because I was standing but he couldn't get my pulse, it was thready. He called an ambulance on his radio and I started bawling knowing they weren't going to let me keep going. I refused hospital transport and had them take me to the finish where my husband, son and great friends were waiting. My first DNF. I cried a lot and the next day felt even worse emotionally and got even sicker. I am finally better. I registered for a sprint in a few weeks and look forward to finishing!

I had a bad race last year, Honolulu Marathon. I finished but it was painful.

I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, as I did a off road HM the week prior, against recommendations. My stubborness got the best of me, and I paid for it.

Started out ok, but quickly got miserable after the 1/2 point...went downhill steadily...barely was able to finish.

why ? too many races up to that point, didn't follow the marathon training plan well enough, and hadn't recovered completely from the previous week's race.

But I did learn a lot through it all, and wouldn't trade it back... now I know ...

Had to be MTB race a few yrs ago when I missed a turn & faceplanted a tree during warm-up lap.  Lacerated my face & broke helmet,glasses, & handlebar. My day was done & still had to walk my busted bike (& bloody face) past all the other riders waiting to start.  And then find my DW among the fans at the start line so we could drive home.

Worst race=DNS due to self-inflicted injury

DNF'd my first IM due to severe vertigo a mile into the swim.  Was pulled out of the water by guards, and returned to race medical (which wasn't even set up yet) in an ambulance.  My wife took me back to the hotel, and I laid in a dark room for the next 12 hours trying not to vomit instead of racing

Then went back about 9 pm...  yep, right by the chute with Mike Reilly telling other folks they were ironmen, past the racers on the road getting ready to finish, and collected my gear.

One of my worst days ever.  But one on which I learned a lot as well.

Sorry to hear you had a bad race! My last race was last weekend, a 20 mile trail run. I had some surprising things happen... and my time wasn't what I expected, but it's not the worst.

Probably the "worst" so far was the trail marathon I did last August. I missed TWO turns. Ya, I got lost twice. Evidently my sense of direction doesn't improve when I am out of the car. I ended up running a little over 29 miles when it was all said and done. I joke and call it my first "ultra." (Using the ultra term lightly there, since it's anything over a marathon distance.)

End of the season Oly last September. Bad from start to finish. Went a little spacey before the start of the race, spent too much time visiting with friends. Got in the water to warm up and on my way back they were already going over the course/rules etc. Before I knew it they were counting down and I was not in a spot I liked at all. Low and behold, kicked in the head 2 minutes into the swim, then bam, kicked in the chest, then bam, goggles ripped off my face as I was hit in the head again. This is not going well and I am ready to quit right now! Finally, I got myself together but I was short of breath from the beating and trying to swim as hard as I could to make up for time lost messing with my goggles. Finally I get out of the water and BRRRR, the air feels freezing cold (probably 60).

Now I'm off on the bike. What do you know, the wind (20 mph) is in my face for the entire ride out. We have to take a little finger of a side road in this race with a sharp turn around and before I know it my good friend wipes out right behind me in the turn around barley missing my back tire. Now I'm freaking out thinking he is hurt or his bike is damaged and I didn't stop because I didn't want to cause more of a traffic jam in the turn around. About 2 min later he passes me like I'm standing still. All is well for him. I press on into the wind. Now, I don't train by heart rate or know anything about RPE at this time. I'm just looking at my speed thinking how slow I am and I have to catch up (big mistake). I have never caught my breath from the swim and now my legs are burning too. Finally we get to the turn around with the wind at our back. GREAT! I start thinking I'm going to make it instead of how I want to quit. I'm cruising along, gaining speed and what do you know - my chain slips off the ring. No problem, I know how to get the change back while I'm pedaling. Fixed that - HA. Keep pressing on, what is that up the road? EEEK, a huge combine taking up the entire road! Something tells me that the farmer does not really care that I'm racing here . I slow down again and scoot over as far as I can, close my eyes and pass the combine. Whew. Ok - press on again.

Get to transition and I can tell my legs are not feeling good AT ALL. I start to run and it feels like I am wearing concrete boots instead of shoes. I'm still cold, I still can't breath, and my legs are fried. This was the longest 6 miles ever!! It was all I could do to just keep going. Seriously, and I know this was only an Oly, very sad. I would pick a mailbox on the side of the road and think "If I can just make it to that mailbox, if I can just make it to the water station" etc.

In the end, my time was 4 minutes faster than the previous year despite the conditions and poor swim. I just did not enjoy myself at all. I was totally defeated for the entire race but so very proud of myself for pressing on even when it hurt, when I wasn't having fun, when I really wanted to quit. The next weekend I raced a 5k, PR'd, and won my age group. Something I have NEVER done in a running event. I credit it all to that terrible Oly when I was pushed to my limits and realized I can handle a lot more than I think I can.

Sorry that got kind of long!!!!

Ugh I feel your pain! Nothing is more upsetting than a disappointing race. As soon as I saw this thread I thought of this race:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=163188

Came off the bike in great shape to PR the Olympic Distance and maybe even qualify for Age Group Nationals, and then my abdominal muscles cramped horribly. It wasn't side stitches, I'm not really sure what it was, something that never happened before or since that day.

Outside of my IM dnf, this weekend was frustrating.

I showed up late and had to run to the swim start, forgot my chip for the swim portion.  Started okay but then my goggles kept fogging on the swim, then on the bike my seatpost kept dropping.  By miles 8 my seatpost was all the way to the bottom and it was causing my speed to drop.  Got off the bike, yelled a few expletives, saw all the people I passed pass me, then passed them again on the hill.  The run wasn't too bad but at that point I was pretty carefree about the whole thing.

Honestly, I rarely have a race I'm 'happy' with, I tend to notice the 1 bad thing and ignore the 20 positives. 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=248617&posts=1&start=1

I can't remember if I wrote a race report for this one or not. When you think you're having a bad race, you can think of me and not feel so bad.   Last year at the Chelanman tri, my day went like this.

1) woke up with a weird case of dizziness.  Think I had a bad reaction to sudafed the night before.  Not a good start.

2) The swim was held is very windy/white cap conditions. Hence, many swimmers were bailing and being pulled out. A small saill boat was pulling swimmers out. It pretty much came right onto the swim course and everyone had to stop or swim around it.. or in my case, swim into it. Seriously, I swam right into the side of the boat. Ugh.

3) the bike:  2 flats (!)  within 20 minutes of each other at the far point of the course. Used my first spare tube on the first flat and then didn't have one for the second flat. Waited for the support truck (those guys were saints!) and got back on the road.   Yup, go ahead and add a big chunk of time to my bike time.

4) the run:  run course is really heating up and the wonderful people along the course had super-soakers to help runners cool off.  Unfortunately, my shooter was an overzealous 16 year old boy with a mega soaker.  I got hit in the face so hard that I ended up with a gushing bloody nose.  Blood all over. Good times.  

My motto has always been "not fast, but never last". Well, guess what?  I was LAST in my age group. So late, that my husband was getting really worried and then finally saw me running in to the finish covered in blood.

But, here's the thing. I still had a blast (Chelanman is the best supported race and fun atmosphere ever!).   I also am more proud of that race than ever other I've done because I didn't quit.  So many people have told me that would've bailed after the second flat but I hung in there. It's giving me some confidence that when things go wrong in a race, I can hang in there and keep going.  In a way, it's great to get a bad race out of the way and move forward.

At the end of the day, we are so fortunate to participate in tri.  I'll take a boat crash, 2 flats,  and a bloody nose anyday if it means I get to be outside having a blast.

You have very high standards, sir!!!

Crapping my pants and STILL finishing, now that's a REAL win. Surprisingly, I haven't done that ... yet.

Like metafizx, my nightmare was the Honolulu Marathon, and like others, it was because I shouldn't have started. I'm just almost unfathomably stupid at times, and in my head, by forgoing the race, I would have thrown away all the months of training, fundraising, travel expenses, and going with a group of my closest friends all doing the same thing ...

Then again, maybe someone who was just discharged from the hospital (with strict instructions to go home and do absolutely nothing but recuperate for two weeks) wasn't in the best frame of mind to go get on a plane to go do a marathon ...

Huh--after 31 years it would be a very, very tough line-up. My first marathon at age 14, very under-prepared and running with no watch, where I learned that "Yes, Virginia, there IS a wall!" Running a 5:10 mile with a killer migraine......A half-marathon where I had to go into a bar to use their bathroom.  An alltime low was the World University Games marathon in 1989 in very hot, humid conditions--someone took all my water bottles after 5K, and I couldn't get down the carbonated water and early version of gu that they were serving. I had trained hard and was in great shape, but the team coach wasn't allowed to hand me anything, so we decided I would just try to PR for the HM on basically no fluid after 5K (I did, in 1:16 something) and then just get to the finish. All that kept me going through those last km was that I was running with a Sri Lankan girl who was doing the race barefoot, and we talked each other through exhaustion, dehydration, and sore feet.  We finished holding hands in something like 2:53, or 2:55. I was way past caring! But the only time I ever dropped out was a 10,000 in college when I turned out to have a 104 degree fever. (I told my coach I was sick but he wanted me to "start and see how you feel". Umm...not too good!)

Maybe Saturday's 15 K "adventure race" would qualify--wrote it up for a workout as the time/distance make no sense without knowing the course and conditions. I'm still sick to my stomach and now so is my partner so apparently more than heat and dehydration was at work.  But a "15K" where you trip on rotten fruit at 12 minutes and do the rest of the race bruised and bleeding, run in 102 degree heat, get lost several times and run a few extra km, deal with a constant smell of rotting fruit, and stop caring about anything but seeing the finish line from a vertical position, puts it pretty high up on my list!  

Sorry to hear about your race.  I think the sooner you race again, the sooner you can put it behind you.  Here is my first attempt at a HIM:

DNF. Did Not Finish. Those words will haunt me now for the remainder of my life. That is what will forever be by my name for the 2006 Gulf Coast Triathlon. I cannot begin to tell you the tsunami of emotions that hit me when I came to the realization that I had failed. Shame. Disappointment. Humiliation. Dishonor. Failure. Looser.

For 5 1/2 months I trained as hard as I could. After over 1,100 miles running, biking and swimming I had built my endurance to run 13 miles and bike 56 miles. I had lost 35 lbs and thought I was ready for anything. A DNF never really entered my mind. I figured, short of being hit broadside by a semi, I was (eventually) gonna finish this race. The one thing that never even entered my mind was my tendency towards motion sickness.

The weather was beautiful and it looked like it was gonna be a wonderful day for the race. There was 1,500 triathletes ready to go this morning and as I approached the starting line I was confident, rested, carb-loaded and anxious to get started.

There were 12 buoys making the 1.2 mile swim course. I was starting in group 12 out of 15 so was very near the back of the race. I hit the water and began to swim and felt great. The waves were not too big near the beach and when I crossed the breakers things settled down even more. Nevertheless, the waves and currents moved me around in the water and by the time I reached the first buoy I began to feel dizzy. By the time I reached the second buoy I knew I was in trouble. I was getting nauseous from the wave movements. Up and down and slight side to side I went and my head started to swirl around.

I tried to ignore the feeling of sea sickness and concentrate on my swimming. By the time I reached the third buoy I was sick as a dog and the for the first time the thought that I was not gonna be able to make it came to me. I shut the thought out of my head and continued on. I thought maybe if I changed from swimming freestyle to breaststroke it might help but it did not. Eventually I rounded the 6th buoy and was almost half way but I was getting progressively sicker. At this point I was counting stokes. I could only swim about 10 stokes before I had to stop and look at the horizon or the buoy to stop my head from spinning out of control.

I rounded the 6th buoy and tried to tell myself that it was almost over but I did not believe this lie and I felt my stomach rumbling. I tried to stop and just stay still but that was even worse as I bobbed up and down. I was so sick. But quitting just ain't in me so I asked myself. 'if I were stranded out here would I die?' There was hesitation in my answer as I tried to convince myself that I had to make it back to shore. I passed buoy 7 but by now I could only swim about 5 stokes before I had to stop. I told myself there were only 5 buoys to go and then I'd be on solid ground although at this point even the thought of getting on a bike didn't sound too fun either. I just wanted to be still. As I approached the 8th buoy, I lost it. I started hurling.

It was at this point that I realized I was in serious trouble. I had been getting progressively sicker and sicker and now I was hurling. My head was twirling and I could hardly see straight. It wouldn't be long before I was dry-heaving and gasping for air and sucking in sea water. Anyway, it's kinda hard to swim while you're hurling. So I flagged one of the Sea Doos and they came over and threw me a gurney thing. I grabbed on to the rope and they dragged my sick butt to shore.

It was over. 5 1/2 months of training and anticipation had ended in total failure. I walked back to the hotel humiliated. I took the elevator to the 4th floor and thought I would puke when the elevator started moving. I was still sick. I got to my room and laid on the bed for about 2 hours before my head stopped swimming. Eventually I got up and went to retrieve my bike from the transition area. Most all the bikes were out on the course now however there were a dozen or so other bikes left in the transition area and I wondered what their story was. I pushed my bike out past the spectators in what felt like a 'walk of shame'. I felt like I had a big DNF in scarlet letters across my forehead.

That was several years ago.  I think this was probably the spark that lit an IM fire in me and drove me to get up and try again.  You will never see me down for long, I'm usually up or I'm getting up!

~Mike

Sorry to hear about the bad race, it is especially hard when you know you are in shape to go much faster. 

My crappiest race may not be all that crappy, but I was just in way to deep over my head. A couple years ago I though it would be a great idea to enter a crit. I show up to the race and sign in to realize that they are racing the junior men and elite men together. When I show up to the line I am the only junior and there are only about 6 other people in the race. They were all on their $5000+ carbon road bikes, and I'm on my $1000 aluminum bike. I was dropped in the 1st 100m and after finishing the first loop I rode straight to the car and haven't entered a bike race since.